Christmas Cheer.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, 24 December 1910, Page 3 (Supplement)

Christmas Cheer.

BA'

W. HENRY JEWITT,

IN ‘THE TREASURY."

i "There are many things from which ! I might have derived good, by which j I have not profited, I dare say. Christ- : mas among the rest. But I am sure I j have alwa.'s thought of Christrnns- ; time, when it has come round—apart i from the veneration due to its sacred I name and origin, if anything belongI ing to it can 'to apart from that—as ; a t end fin*: a kind, forgiving. charitj a 1 tn. pleasant time: tlie only time I I know of in the long calendar of the I ve r. wh t*. men and women seem by ! one consent to open their rhut-up i h-arts freclv. and to think of people | below them as if they really were felf low-passengers to the grave, and not | another race of creatures bound on ! other journeys." J Sr, says Scrooge’s nenhew in Dickens's immortal “C’>r:’stm.is Carol."" which i wi*h all its absurdities wo must ever ! love- and though we know, while i ccr '<- ; ng with his generous sentiments, ; that many of our Christmas observi ar.r-'s .are “nnart- from th n sacred ori- ! gin" of rhe feast—of its Christian ori- | pin nt least—-I ring relics of a proi Christian past, the sacred observances ! of tlm old Yn'otide foa<t of our Saxon | end No’-so ancestors, it i* to to doubti f ! whether w? are any happier for | the knowledge than when in our early childhood, now far past, ne looked ur> fiom snow-r-’ad earth to the starlit dome above, .and wondered which it w-'s. of -d! the shining lights we saw, which led the Wi«e Mon to the m.anger-b.--d of B ’tlmlhom. or if the Shepherds’ folds, ttien told of. wire on hillsides Jeon in snow like tlu-so wo knew on 0.,r own countryside. Foastiim has alwavs accompanied re’fg’ous solemnities, trim or false. It is oit-e” fpossibly always! in its origin r. sacrificial nr sacrament al feast, as

witness thv Paschal Sunner : and in the B-«rrli : e rites, in early times, a man" ded’eated to God -but in later davs a toast in his nine?—was sacrificed. cut up and divided for snera-r.’.-ntal consumption." This communi->” toast o;* the «**cr : fi"i:il victim prevailed an'oi g the Gre ks. OCR SAXON ANCESTORS.

M *t.h regard to our Saxon ancestors. S'. G’-ognry. writing tn St. Melitus. tolls l.im : ' R-'oaiise they have boon r.-sod ro '•'an rhter nwnv oxen in th?

sacrifices to devils, some solemnity must be exchanged for them on that account. .... to celebrate .... with teligioiis feasting, and no more offer beasts to the devil, but kill cattle to tie praise of God in their eating, and return thanks to the Giver of all things for their snstenanc:-. Thus we see how the ancient A tilefeast because a time of plenty and reioicing in thankfulness for our Hles-s.-d Lord’s Nativity, even as tho old i hynn; says :

■ -This day for Christ wo celebrate, Who «a*. Ixirn at this time ; For which all Christians should rejoice. As I d-> sing in rhyme — When you have given thanks, Unto your dainties fall. Heaven b’ess my master and my dame ; Lord bless me and you all *'

n:e northern nations when converted, following the same ride as with regard to meat, adapted their A uletide drinking .to th ir new faith. So_the American poet tells us. when King Olaf snt nt Rrontheim keeping his Christmas, ‘-with his horn filled up to the brim.”

■ O'er his drinking horn the sign He made nf the Cross Divine, As he drank and muttered his prayers ; P’ *- lLc rvor MadOhe sign of the hammer of Thor Over theirs.” tA< a ma:te>- of fact tlie signs were t'. e scire 1 And when !:e raised hi? ss-hi'te;l sword for the Scald to kiss, “A 'hunt went round the hoard. In the name <;f Christ the Lord. AVho died." V ■ •» ..;■•! ps the Saxon monks of C'-.-vlaml. fulfilling the will of King V g'.i’. a* ( hrirtmas time passed round idrinking, horn — Thov Ir-’nk to Chris: the Lord. And t ’ I o‘ th-' twelve apostles Vi I . had nre:'.chad H;s Holy At ord. finch later Herrick p’ondy ‘-'returns I’-ir.'-..' the Giver of all things for ih. 'ilk as wed as moat." • 'Ti- Tb'o.: th:it crown'-t my glittering hearth W- '• guiltless mirth. And gives me wn«sn;le IkuvL-s to drink. S.p:<'oil to the brink. Lord, tis Thy plenty-dropping hand That 'oi’es mv land ; Andggist mo for mv budiell sownc Twice t< n to one. y.,,.. was regularly earrse 1 door ■<’ door in Cornwall sixty or reveniv veers .ago: the Follows of Merton College. Oxford, in the middle of ' , :e e gh’ionth century, met together in the h.dl on Christmas Eve and - s'lenin times to sing a psalm and drink a grace cup to one another f railed Po'-tdiim Chnntatisi. wishiim me : not’-e lienlth and hapniness. And in the North Riding of Yorkshire il

I was the custom, at any rate as late I as Aubrey’s time, "for the parishionj ers. after receiving the Sacrament on Chrisrmas Dav, to go from church to the a!e-hou-e and there drink together ‘ as a token of charity and friendship." j S;> though we may not agree with 1 the great author quoted at the begin- ; ping of this article, when he gives the I advice ('alluding to this festival) “If i your glass is filled with reeking punch I instead of sparkling wine. . . . empty I it off-hand, and fill another," we may I remcir.ber that this was only a custom iir h rit'd from the Yuletide of our j Saxon ancestors and long kept up in ; '<!i classes of society, even in his own ■ day; that it was meant in all kindly ■ feeling and be entirely at one with j him in saying that “A man must be a • misanthrope, in whose breast something like a jovial fee'ing is not aroused. in whose mind some pleasant associations are not awakaned by a recurrent e of Christmas. MAGIC IN THE NAME.

There is a magic in the very name . . Petty jealousies and discords arc forgotten. . . . Would that Christmas lasted tho whole year through (as it ought) 1" Dickens's own idea of Christmas cheer may be gauged by his description of Scrooge’s transformed room: "The walls and ceiling were so hung with living green that it looked a perfect grove, from every part of which bright gloaming berries glistened. _ And such a mighty blaze went roaring up the chimney as that dull retrifaetion of a hearth had never known. . . . for many and many a spivri gone. Htaced upon the floor to form a kind of throne, were turkeys. geese, game, poultry, brawn, great ioint.s of meat, sucking pigs, long wreaths of sausages, mine:* pies, plum puddings, barrels of oysters, red-hot chestnuts, cherry-cheeked apples, juicy orang's, luscious pears, immense Twelfth cakes, and seething bowls of punch that made the chamber dim with tho delicious steam." Bui he do«s not forget to tdl us that the good people wont to church, “flocking through the str?o+s in their best clothes, and with their gayc-st f-ices.

For they said i' was a shame to quarrel on Christmas Day. And so it was' God love it. :<> it was!"

Christmas cheer, Christinas plenty, and Christmas hospitality had. however. b'en sung long before. Georg? Hither lit must surely have been befor he turned Puritan, for lie calls it ‘■'o'.ir joyfull’st feast") bids us “drown sorrow in a cup of wine," and says: 'Now all our neighbours’ chimneys smoke. And Christmas blocks are burning; The ovens with baked meats they choke, And all their spits are turning. Without the door let sorrow lie, And if for cold it hap to die, We’ll bliry't in a Christmas pie, And ever more be merry.” THE CHRISTMAS BOARD. In a similar strain is ‘-’Poor Robin’s Almanack” for 1695: 'Now thrice welcome Christmas, which brings us good cheer, Minced pies and plum-porridge, good ale and strong Leer, With pig. goose, and capon, the best that may be, Sc well doth the season and our stomachs agree. Observe how the chimneys do smoko all about The cooks are providing for dinner no doubt. • » ’ * * But as for curmudgeons, who will not b? free, I wish they may die on the threelegged tree.”

And again an old ballad, entitled •‘Old Christmas Returned, or Hospitality Revived,” in the I’epys Collection, I j “All you that to feasting and mirth ‘ are inclined, j Come. here is good news for to | pleasure your mind: i Old Christ mas is come for to keep open I house: ; He scorns to be guilty of starving a I mouse: ! Then come, b: ys. and welcome, of diet I tho chief, 1 I’him-pudding. goose, capon, minced I pies, and roast beef." I i And <HT once more, in Thorno s poem • of ‘-Christmas,'’ we are told that—- ' "Now socia l friends their social friend: * invit? ! To share the feast—and on the table’s ! plac'd The fam'd sir’o-’n. with puddings nicelv : lukid. Surcharg'd wi'h rlnm*. and from the oven hot; i Ni r wanting ar n minc'd pies, in I tilonitous heat**, > T’ augment the dainties of the bravo j repast.'’ I Hero tb« nhim puddings were aop.ari ently not Kuled. a-s our present Christrrns moldin'*, but baked, as I rem*>nbor to hare heard my mother say tha

they were in her childhood. (But that is some time back now : they used a tinder-box in tli'S? dais.) Roast beef or sirloin it: generally mentioned by old writers, but goose played a promi..cnt part in the season’s cheer. Swans ■mil peacocks were served on the tables of the great, and turkey appears to have teen in-luded from its introduction into England in the sixteenth centurv. Tusser, writing in 1587. places on' the Christmas board

“Beef, mutton, and pork, shred pies of the best, Fig, veal, goose, and capon, and turkie well drest. ABOUT MINCE PIES. /As to the mince pies so often mentioned. and of which a writer in the 'Oxford Sausage" says

Li t Christmas boast her customary treat, A mixture strange of suet, currants, meat. Where various tastes combine, the greasy and the sweet,

a correspondent in a daily paper, then jipt return' d from the Antipodes, "and locking forward to spending a real Christmas at home," wrote some three years since to ask if the recipe was forgotten The mince pie of his youth, he said, ‘’used to be something to eat. In a long morning’s shooting it would stay you till lunch, and it was as nice ns it was sustaining.” Not like “the wretched fluffy bits of pastrycook’s flummery, with two or three miserable currants, flavoured with molasses hidden away in the interior of it,” which he obtained at a London restaurant. His inquiry brought a number of recipes. The following, said by t'm lady who forwarded it to be handed down to her through ninny generations of A’orkshiro wome'i, appears to be a geod one. Tins is, she says, enough for a largo family, and it will keep from Chr’stmas to Christmas. Here it is: .“One and a half pounds of lean good beef stewed tender, in a very little water: salt and a very little pepper and mace to this: 21b. sultana raisins, 21l>. best Demornra sugar, Hh. (T.uiw. 1 ll> lemon poefl, citron pool. 31b. A'.'dencia raisins. Gib. good cooking apples (pared and cored). 21b. of currants, nutmeg, all-snice. and salt as desir'd. Pass tho beef, apples, and Valencia rnisins through the mincing machine. n!*o iho peels: chon tho sulf.'mas a little. Km ad all aell together in a bowl ■'nd put in'o jars.” -She 'A’ev-r put su-’t nr brandv m if ' fl bo wri+ r h-s never seen nn'nc-'me-H marl' without t’>o former, but tho latter has be-*n added when

it was desired to keep the mixture. Another correspondent adds the suet, but omits the beef, and says: —"lf whisky o.- brundv is preferred it can be added, but 1 nover use it.” But tastes vary (1 have heard of a lady who put tripe in hers), and, whatever it was made or, the Christmas pie has always been celebrated, from the young Horner of our nursery days down. A writer in the “Gentleman’s Magazine” for 173” says: "Some think that this dish is most in vogue at this time of the year, owing to the barrenness of the season, and the s,-.-arcity of fruit and milk to make tarts and custards and other desserts. this being a compound that furnishes dessert in itself. But an old verse says:—

‘‘The cloystered steaks with salt and pepper lie, Like nunnes with patches in a monasterie." By which, it would appear to be a meal pee. Master Horner's was apparently of plums, such as are mentioned elsewhere. FOLK LORE. In Derbyshire, on "Christmas Even, ns they call it,” says a correspondent of “Folk Lore.” "when the lead-miners came out of the mines, they left half a candle burning for the ! owd man’! the collective term by which they designate file mon of bygone/ times who have worked before them in the mines. (Is it not rather the EJil One ) And in their houses on the same eve they burnt a candle which was much bigger than an ordinary one, ate a Tide loaf, and drank posset. -'The Yule loaf is like a round cake put on a square loaf, and pricked with a fork.” They all sit round the table while the candle is burning, and put spoons in the bowl as it is passed round. It is done yet, and the grocers give candb.-s to their customer* for the purpose.” Returning to him who penned the lines with which this article opened, and who loved Christmas so well, the writer venture* to c'os ■ with an ap-p’ic-itinn, for himself and his readers, of the concluding words of the great author's last Christmas book : '‘Though winter's snows onr hair Have whitened, and the winter winds blow keen. Ere we ‘salute the morn’ be this our prayer, ‘Lord keep mv memory for ever green ’ ”